Systems and methods for use in clearing and/or settling network transactions

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for processing network transactions. One exemplary method includes transmitting a network request, received from a first entity, to a second entity; intercepting a network reply from the second entity, when the network reply is associated with the first entity and the first entity is a registered entity; appending an indicator to the network reply when a rule associated with the first entity is satisfied by a parameter of the network reply; and appending a transaction associated with the network reply to a settlement process when the rule is satisfied by the parameter. The exemplary method further includes transmitting the network reply, with the appended indicator, to the first entity, whereby, upon identifying the indicator, the first entity is permitted to omit the transaction from further reporting related to clearing and/or settlement of the transaction.

FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for usein clearing and/or settling network transactions, and in particular, foruse in clearing and/or settling network transactions by one entity, onbehalf of another entity, where the network transactions are particulartypes of transactions such as, for example, irreversible transactions.

BACKGROUND

This section provides background information related to the presentdisclosure which is not necessarily prior art.

Products are often purchased through payment account transactions, whichmay involve one or multiple transacting institutions (e.g., banks,etc.). The transactions are coordinated through one or more paymentnetworks, and generally involve authorization, clearing and settlement.It is known for authorization of the transactions to occur immediatelyupon the request of consumers for the transactions, whereby merchantsinvolved in the transactions are permitted to deliver the products tothe consumers. However, the clearing and settlement processes typicallytake two or more days to complete. The clearing process involves thereporting of transactions from the merchants and/or associatedacquirers, and also from the issuers (broadly, transactinginstitutions), to corresponding payment networks for processing,whereupon the transactions are balanced against different involvedtransacting institutions. The clearing process may also involve, fromtime to time, one or more adjustments to the transactions, whereby theamounts of the authorized transactions may be altered (e.g., based onaddition of tips, fee assessments, etc.), etc. As an example, for adining transaction, the authorized transaction amount typically includesan amount for actual food ordered, while the clearing transaction amountthen includes addition of a tip. As another example, for a car rentaltransaction, the authorized transaction amount typically includes anamount for expected vehicle use, while the clearing transaction amountthen includes actual expenses (e.g., added fuel expenses, etc.). In anycase, once the clearing process is complete, clearing files are providedto the transacting institutions (e.g., as presentments, etc.). And then,in connection therewith or after, the settlement process providestransfer of funds between the accounts of the transacting institutions,and specifically, the consumers' accounts and the merchants' accounts.

It is further known for payment account transactions to be different.Some transactions involve large purchases, while other transactionsinvolve small purchases. Additionally, certain payment accounttransactions (typically relating to specific categories of transactionsand generally identified based on merchant category/acquiring terminaltype) are known to be irreversible, often where authorization amountsand clearing amounts associated with the transactions do not differ.Example irreversible transactions may include kiosk transactions, wherepurchased products are immediately delivered (e.g., from vendingmachines, etc.), or fast food transactions, where food products areimmediately delivered once the transactions are approved (and where theexact actual authorized transaction amount is reflected in clearing, andfurther in the consumer's statement).

DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only ofselected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are notintended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system of the present disclosuresuitable for use in settling a payment account transaction on behalf ofan acquirer associated with the transaction, via a payment network;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computing device that may be used in theexemplary system of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method, which may beimplemented in connection with the system of FIG. 1, for use inproviding transaction settlement to an acquirer as a service, via apayment network, for an irreversible-type transaction submitted to thepayment network via the acquirer.

Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference tothe accompanying drawings. The description and specific examplesincluded herein are intended for purposes of illustration only and arenot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Consumers often fund purchase transactions for products with paymentaccounts. In so doing, authorization, clearing and settlement of thetransactions may take multiple days to complete. Authorization of thetransactions may occur relatively quickly. However, clearing andsettlement may take longer as clearing provides an opportunity tocorrect, edit or otherwise alter the transactions for accuracy and/orcompleteness prior to settlement, where appropriate funds are thentransferred to corresponding accounts. For certain types oftransactions, for example, which are generally of low value, thetransactions are “irreversible,” whereby no changes are generallyimposed to the transactions during clearing.

Uniquely, the systems and methods herein provide settlement as aservice, by a payment network, to an acquirer for certain transactionsassociated with the acquirer (e.g., certain irreversible transactions,etc.), whereby after the transactions are authorized the acquirer mayignore the transactions during clearing and settlement. In particular,when a certain transaction, as defined by one or more criteria (e.g.,satisfies a limited transaction amount, etc.), is authorized through thepayment network, the payment network is able to intercept anauthorization reply for the transaction from an issuer associated withthe transaction. Thereafter, the payment network appends a flagindicator to the authorization reply, and includes the transaction in aclearing file at the payment network, generally immediately, whereuponthe transaction is cleared and settled in a next clearing cycle by thepayment network (instead of waiting multiple days as is conventional).Then, when the acquirer associated with the transaction receives theauthorization reply, with the flag indicator appended thereto, theacquirer forwards the reply to a corresponding merchant and ignoresand/or otherwise omits the transaction from its clearing process. Inthis manner, the acquirer is permitted to offload the clearing andsettlement of the transaction to the payment network, therebyalleviating the acquirer's work in later reporting the transaction (andother similar transactions) to the payment network and/or participatingin the clearing and settlement processes (as would be conventional),while at the same time advancing the transaction for more promptsettlement.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system 100 in which one or more aspectsof the present disclosure may be implemented. Although the system 100 ispresented in one arrangement, other embodiments may include the parts ofthe system 100 (or other parts) arranged otherwise depending on, forexample, authorization, clearing and/or settlement processes employed bythe transacting institutions included in the system 100, etc.

As shown in FIG. 1, the illustrated system 100 generally includes amerchant 102, an acquirer 104 associated with the merchant 102, apayment network 106, and an issuer 108 configured to issue paymentaccounts to consumers, each or which is coupled to (and is incommunication with) a network 110. The network 110 may include, withoutlimitation, a wired and/or wireless network, a local area network (LAN),a wide area network (WAN) (e.g., the Internet, etc.), a mobile network,and/or another suitable public and/or private network capable ofsupporting communication among two or more of the illustrated parts ofthe system 100, or among any combination thereof. In one example, thenetwork 110 may include multiple networks, where different ones of themultiple networks are accessible to different ones of the illustratedparts in FIG. 1. In particular, in this example, the acquirer 104, thepayment network 106, and the issuer 108 may be connected via a privatepayment transaction network that is part of network 110 for processingpayment account transactions, and the merchant 102 may be connected withthe acquirer 104, for example, through a public network, such as theInternet, that is also part of network 110.

In the illustrated embodiment, the merchant 102 is configured to offerand to sell products (e.g., goods, services, etc.) to consumers,including, for example, to consumer 112. In general, in connection withthe present description, the products offered by the merchant 102 areoften products of a type whereby transactions for the purchase of theproducts are considered irreversible and/or irrevocable. In connectiontherewith, example products may include fast food items, transmittedticket products, vending merchant products, etc. In this manner, themerchant 102 may include a vending machine at a specific location, akiosk-type point of sale (POS) device at a transit station, or a POSdevice for use by a merchant user (e.g., an employee, etc. at a fastfood location, etc.), etc. With that said, it should be appreciated thatthe merchant 102, and the type of devices included at the merchant 102,are not limited to the examples provided herein.

In general, the consumer 112 interacts with the merchant 102 to purchaseone or more of the products. The consumer 112 may fund the purchasethrough various means, including, for example, cash, a check, and/or apayment account, etc. In this exemplary embodiment, the consumer 112 isassociated with a payment account issued by the issuer 108. The paymentaccount is, in turn, associated with a payment device 114, which mayinclude, for example, a debit card, a credit card, a fob, apayment-enabled communication device (e.g., a smartphone, a wearabledevice, etc.), etc.

In one exemplary transaction, the consumer 112 may seek to purchase aproduct from the merchant 102 using his/her payment account, whereuponthe consumer 112 presents the payment device 114 to the merchant 102.For example, the consumer 112 may swipe or insert (or otherwise present)the payment device 114 through/into a POS device (not shown) at themerchant 102 (e.g., a card reader, etc.). In response, the merchant 102is configured to receive and/or retrieve credentials associated with theconsumer's payment account from the payment device 114, for example, viathe POS device, and to communicate an authorization request (broadly, anetwork request) for the purchase to the acquirer 104, via the network110 (along path A in FIG. 1). In turn, the acquirer 104 is configured tocommunicate with the issuer 108, through the payment network 106 (again,via the network 110), for authorization of the transaction (e.g., todetermine if the consumer's payment account is in good standing, if thetransaction poses only an acceptable risk of fraud, and if there is/aresufficient credit/funds to complete the transaction, etc.). If theissuer 108 declines the transaction, the issuer 108 is configured toprovide an authorization reply (broadly, a network reply) back to themerchant 102 declining the transaction, and the merchant 102 is able toterminate the transaction with the consumer 112, or request an alternateform of funding.

Conversely, if the issuer 108 accepts the transaction, the issuer 108 isconfigured to provide an authorization reply back to the merchant 102(again, generally along path A) approving the transaction, and themerchant 102 is then able to proceed in the transaction. The transactionis then later (e.g., conventionally two to three days later, etc.)cleared and settled by and between the merchant 102 and the acquirer104, and by and between the acquirer 104, the payment network 106 andthe issuer 108 in accordance with one or more settlement arrangements,etc., as described in more detail below.

While only one merchant 102, one acquirer 104, one payment network 106,and one issuer 108 are illustrated in FIG. 1, it should be appreciatedthat any number or types of these entities (and their associatedcomponents) may be included in the system 100, or as a part of othersystem embodiments, consistent with the present disclosure. Likewise,only one consumer 112 and one payment device 114 are shown in FIG. 1 forpurposes of illustration. However, other system embodiment willgenerally include additional consumers and payment devices.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computing device 200 that can be used inthe system 100. The computing device 200 may include, for example, oneor more servers, workstations, desktop computers, laptops, tablets, etc.In addition, the computing device 200 may include a single computingdevice, or it may include multiple computing devices located in closeproximity or distributed over a geographic region, so long as thecomputing devices are specifically configured to function as describedherein. In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1, each of the merchant 102,the acquirer 104, the payment network 106, and the issuer 108 areillustrated as including, or being implemented in, computing device 200,coupled to (and in communication with) the network 110. However, thesystem 100 should not be considered to be limited to the computingdevice 200, as described below, as different computing devices and/orarrangements of computing devices may be used. In addition, differentcomponents and/or arrangements of components may be used in othercomputing devices.

Referring to FIG. 2, the exemplary computing device 200 includes aprocessor 202 and a memory 204 coupled to (and in communication with)the processor 202. The processor 202 may include one or more processingunits (e.g., in a multi-core configuration, etc.). For example, theprocessor 202 may include, without limitation, a central processing unit(CPU), a microcontroller, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC)processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), aprogrammable logic device (PLD), a gate array, and/or any other circuitor processor capable of the functions described herein.

The memory 204, as described herein, is one or more devices that permitdata, instructions, etc., to be stored therein and retrieved therefrom.The memory 204 may include one or more computer-readable storage media,such as, without limitation, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), staticrandom access memory (SRAM), read only memory (ROM), erasableprogrammable read only memory (EPROM), solid state devices, flashdrives, CD-ROMs, thumb drives, floppy disks, tapes, hard disks, and/orany other type of volatile or nonvolatile physical or tangiblecomputer-readable media. The memory 204 may be configured to store,without limitation, transaction data, settlement indicators, and/orother types of data (and/or data structures) suitable for use asdescribed herein. Furthermore, in various embodiments,computer-executable instructions may be stored in the memory 204 forexecution by the processor 202 to cause the processor 202 to perform oneor more of the functions described herein, such that the memory 204 is aphysical, tangible, and non-transitory computer readable storage media.Such instructions often improve the efficiencies and/or performance ofthe processor 202 and/or other computer system components configured toperform one or more of the various operations herein. It should beappreciated that the memory 204 may include a variety of differentmemories, each implemented in one or more of the functions or processesdescribed herein.

Further, the illustrated computing device 200 also includes a networkinterface 206 coupled to (and in communication with) the processor 202and the memory 204. The network interface 206 may include, withoutlimitation, a wired network adapter, a wireless network adapter, amobile network adapter, or other device capable of communicating to oneor more different networks, including the network 110.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the system 100 includes a settlement engine116, which is configured, by computer executable instructions, toperform one or more of the operations described herein. In theillustrated embodiment, the settlement engine 116 is provided as a partof the payment network 106, for example, as indicated by the dottedlines (e.g., located at the payment network 106, located incommunication with the payment network 106, etc.). That said, thesettlement engine 116 may be considered a computing device, which isconsistent with the computing device 200. However, it should beappreciated that the settlement engine 116 may alternatively beseparate, at least partly or entirely, from the payment network 106 inother embodiments (e.g., as a standalone part of the system 100, as partof one or more other components of the system 100, etc.).

In general, the settlement engine 116 is configured to register theacquirer 104 for settlement services, by the payment network 106, forcertain transactions, such as, for example, irreversible transactions,etc. In so doing, the acquirer 104 may offload clearing and settlementof the certain transactions to the payment network 106, therebyalleviating the acquirer's work in later reporting the transactions tothe payment network 106 and/or participating in the clearing andsettlement processes (as conventionally described above), while at thesame time advancing the transactions for more prompt settlement (in anunconventional manner). With that said, the acquirer 104 may identifythe certain transactions for which it desires such unique settlementservices to apply (e.g., during the registration process thereafter,etc.), for example, by transaction amounts, merchant category codes(MCCs), merchant identifiers (or ID's), payment account numbers (orranges thereof), and/or other suitable criteria, etc. When the acquirer104 provides or selects criteria associated with the certaintransactions, the settlement engine 116 is configured to receive thecriteria and compile rules associated with the criteria, which definewhen the payment network 106 will intercept the transactions and settlethe transactions (and apply the particular settlement services on behalfof and/or in place of the acquirer 104).

For example, at least one rule associated with the implementedsettlement services for the acquirer 104 may indicate the acquirer'spreference for expedited settlement by the payment network 106 when atransaction involves a merchant associated with MCC 5814 (fast foodrestaurants), or when a transaction involves a merchant associated withmerchant ID 123456. In addition, one or more rules may include a listingof multiple MCCs for which the acquirer 104 prefers settlement by thepayment network 106. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more rulesmay, or may not, be associated with one or more threshold amounts (e.g.,transactions involving total amounts of less than $10.00, etc.). Withthat said, Table 1 illustrates multiple exemplary rules that may becompiled by the settlement engine 116 for the acquirer 104.

TABLE 1 Rule Number Rule Criteria Rule #1 MCC = 5499 (Miscellaneous FoodStores) Rule #2 Merchant ID = 123456 Rule #3 MCC = 4112 (PassengerRailways) and < $10.00 Rule #4 MCC = 5814 (Fast Food Restaurants) Rule#5 MCC = 7841 (Video Entertainment Rental Stores) and MCC = 7338 (QuickCopy, Reproduction and Blueprinting services) . . . . . .

Once the desired rules are compiled, the settlement engine 116 isconfigured to store the rules in a data structure 118 (along with rulesfor other registered acquirers, etc.), which is coupled to (and is incommunication with) the settlement engine 116. The data structure 118may be a standalone part of the system 100, as shown in FIG. 1, or itmay be included in the payment network 106 with the settlement engine116, in memory of the settlement engine 116 (e.g., memory 204, etc.), orin memory elsewhere in the system 100, etc.

Subsequently in the system 100, the settlement engine 116 is configuredto provide a settlement service to the acquirer 104 for the certaintransactions specified by the acquirer 104, such as, for example,irreversible transactions, based on the compiled rules. In particular,in the context of the exemplary transaction above, the settlement engine116 is configured to uniquely intercept the authorization reply, asconventionally provided from the issuer 108, for example: (i) when thetransaction is directed to a registered acquirer, such as, for example,the acquirer 104; (ii) when the transaction includes an approval of thetransaction; and/or (iii) when the transaction satisfies one or more ofthe rules associated with the acquirer 104 in the data structure 118(e.g., one or more of the rules in Table 1, etc.). Thereafter (and afterdetermining that one or more of the compiled rules are satisfied), thesettlement engine 116 is configured to add the transaction to a pendingsettlement file at the payment network 106, for example, and then toappend a flag indicator to the authorization reply for the transaction(identifying the transaction as approved for the registered settlementservices). Specifically, for example, the flag indicator may be includedat a data element (DE) of the authorization reply (e.g., at DE 48 of anISO 8583 standard authorization request, at a new data element of theauthorization request built during authorization of the transaction,etc.). The settlement engine 116 is then configured to release theauthorization reply to the acquirer 104, with the flag indicatorappended thereto.

In addition, for the intercepted and flagged certain transactions, thesettlement engine 116 and/or the payment network 106 is/are configuredto settle the transactions (e.g., on behalf of the registered acquirer104, in place of or instead of the registered acquirer 104, etc.).Specifically, for example, upon intercepting an authorization reply fromthe issuer 108 for a transaction associated with the registered acquirer104, the settlement engine 116 and/or the payment network 106 isconfigured to generate a clearing presentment message and to transmitthe presentment message to the issuer 108 (on behalf of the acquirer104, and instead of the acquirer 104 generating and transmitting suchmessage later as is conventional). In connection therewith, thesettlement engine 116 and/or the payment network 106 is/are configuredto then generally immediately settle the transaction among the relevantaccounts involved in the transaction (i.e., between the acquirer 104 andthe issuer 108), by transferring the appropriate funds therebetween(e.g., the issuer 108 is configured to post the transaction to theconsumer's account, and the settlement engine 116 and/or the paymentnetwork 106 is/are configured to cause appropriate funds to debit flowfrom the issuer 108 (on behalf of the consumer 112) and credit to theacquirer 104 (on behalf of the merchant 102); etc.).

Specifically, for example, the payment network 106 includes a clearingmanagement system 120 (e.g., associated with computing device 200 of thepayment network 106, etc.), which is configured to daily, or multipletimes per day, generate a clearing ledger (broadly, a settlementsummary) for transactions showing debits from consumers' paymentaccounts with issuers and credits to merchants' accounts with acquirers.As such, for the above example transaction involving the merchant 102and the consumer 112, the payment network 106 is configured to modifyconventional processing of the transaction through the clearingmanagement system 120 based on the flag indicator appended to theauthorization reply for the transaction by the settlement engine 116 andto include the transaction in the next available clearing ledger.Thereafter, a presentment message (e.g., as an added functionality tothe clearing management system 120 of the payment network 106 wherebythe payment network 106 operates on behalf of the acquirer 104, in anunconventional manner, to provide the unique settlement featuresdescribed herein; etc.) showing the appropriate debit is transmitted tothe issuer 108 (e.g., for posting to the consumer's account, etc.).Then, based on the clearing ledger, a settlement system 122 of thepayment network 106 (e.g., associated with computing device 200 of thepayment network 106, etc.) facilitates the transfer of funds between therespective accounts (e.g., between the account of the consumer 112 andthe account of the merchant 102, etc.).

Finally, for the above example transaction involving the merchant 102and the consumer 112, upon receipt of the authorization reply (nowincluding the flag indicator) from the payment network 106, the acquirer104 is configured to check for the flag indicator. If appended therein,the acquirer 104 is configured to ignore the transaction for purposes ofclearing and settlement (since the payment network 106 is handling suchoperations on behalf of the acquirer 104), and to further provide theauthorization reply along to the merchant 102 (as part of theconventional authorization process).

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method 300 for providing transactionsettlement as a service, on behalf of a registered acquirer, via asettlement payment network for transactions originated apart from thesettlement payment network. The exemplary method 300 is described asimplemented in the settlement engine 116, with further reference to themerchant 102, the acquirer 104, the payment network 106, and the issuer108 of the system 100, and with still further reference to the computingdevice 200. However, the methods herein should not be understood to belimited to the system 100 or the computing device 200, as the methodsmay be implemented in other systems and/or computing devices. Moreover,the systems and the computing devices herein should not be understood tobe limited to the exemplary method 300.

For purposes of illustration, the method 300 is described with referenceto the exemplary transaction provided above in the system 100 betweenthe consumer 112 and the merchant 102, where the acquirer 104 associatedwith the merchant 102 is registered for settlement services fortransactions with the settlement engine 116. What's more, theregistration of the acquirer 104 includes the entry of certain criteriafrom/by the acquirer 104, whereby (as part of such registration orsubsequent thereto) the rules listed in Table 1 above were compiled bythe settlement engine 116, stored in the data structure 118, and madeavailable for application to transactions involving the acquirer 104(including the above exemplary transaction).

Initially in the method 300, in response to the request by the consumer112 to purchase the product from the merchant 102 (and presentation ofthe payment device 114 to the merchant 102), the merchant 102 compilesthe authorization request for the transaction, at 302. The merchant 102,in this exemplary embodiment, includes a fast food restaurant, whichoffers hamburgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, etc. for sale toconsumers, and which has a merchant ID 12223. The merchant 102, as such,is associated with the MCC 5814. In compiling the authorization request,the merchant 102 includes therein the amount of the purchase, forexample, $12.45, the MCC 5814, the merchant ID 12223 for the merchant102, and other suitable information (e.g., an acquirer ID for theacquirer 104 associated with the merchant 102, etc.). In general, inthis exemplary embodiment, the authorization request is consistent withthe ISO 8583 format, whereby specific transaction data will be includedat specific data elements within the request, as defined by the ISO 8583standard. The merchant 102 then transmits the authorization request tothe acquirer 104, at 304. And, the acquirer 104 transmits theauthorization request to the payment network 106, at 306, which in turntransmits the authorization request to the issuer 108 (associated withthe consumer's payment account intended to fund the transaction), at308.

Thereafter, the issuer 108, as is conventional, determines, at 310,whether to approve or decline the transaction. In this example, thetransaction is approved, whereby, at 312, the issuer 108 compiles anauthorization reply (e.g., an 0110 authorization response consistentwith the ISO 8583 format, etc.) and then, at 314, transmits theauthorization reply back to the payment network 106. It should beappreciated that the transaction data included in the authorizationrequest, such as, for example, the transaction amount, the MCC, and themerchant ID, etc., is also included, by the issuer 108, in whole or inpart, in the authorization reply.

At 316 in the method 300, the settlement engine 116 intercepts theauthorization reply (broadly, the network reply) from the issuer 108,when the authorization reply is associated with a registered acquirer.Here, because the acquirer 104, to which the authorization is directed,is a registered acquirer, the settlement engine 116 intercepts theauthorization reply (e.g., based on an acquirer ID or other identifierfor the acquirer 104, as included in the authorization reply, being in alisting of registered acquirers; based on a matching of the merchant102, as identified in the authorization reply, to the registeredacquirer 104 (via a lookup table, etc.); etc.). Then, for theintercepted authorization reply, the settlement engine 116 retrieves, at318, the rule(s) associated with the acquirer 104 from the datastructure 118, for example, the rules as shown in Table 1. In general,as method 300 relates to settlement on behalf of the acquirer 104, thesettlement engine 116 will often not intercept authorization replies, orat least will not consider any rules as described herein forauthorization replies, in which the underlying transactions are declinedby the issuer 108 (or other entity), because in such cases there are notransactions to be settled.

Next, the settlement engine 116 determines, at 320, if any of theretrieved rule(s) are satisfied by one or more parameters included inthe intercepted authorization reply. In this example, as included in theauthorization reply, the amount of the transaction is $12.45; the MCC is5814; and the merchant ID of the merchant 102 is 12223. As such, basedon the rules in Table 1 for the acquirer 104, the settlement engine 116determines that the authorization reply does not satisfy Rule #1 becausethe MCC of the authorization reply (i.e., 5814) does not match the MCC5499 of Rule #1. Further, the settlement engine 116 determines that theauthorization reply does not satisfy Rule #2 because the merchant ID ofthe merchant 102 associated with the authorization reply (i.e., 12223)does not match the merchant ID 123456 of Rule #2. Further still, thesettlement engine 116 determines that the authorization reply does notsatisfy Rule #3 because the MCC of the authorization reply (i.e., 5418)does not match the MCC 4112 nor is the transaction amount from theauthorization reply less than $10.00 (i.e., threshold amount for Rule#3) as specified in Rule #3. And, the settlement engine 116 determinesthat the authorization reply does not satisfy Rule #5 because the MCC ofthe authorization reply (i.e., 5418) does not match either the MCC 7814or the MCC 7338 of Rule #5. However, the settlement engine 116determines that the authorization reply does satisfy Rule #4 because theMCC of the authorization reply (i.e., 5814) matches the MCC 5814.

Consequently, at 322, the settlement engine 116 appends an indicator,and specifically, a flag indicator (or settlement indicator), to theauthorization reply (e.g., based on Rule #4 being satisfied, etc.). Theindicator may include, for example, a set bit (e.g., 0 not set, 1 set;etc.), a specific character(s) (e.g., alpha character(s), numericcharacter(s), etc.), or other indicator identifying the transaction asbeing subject to the registered settlement services described herein. Inthis exemplary embodiment, and as generally described above in thesystem 100, the flag indicator is included at one or more desired dataelements of the ISO 8583 formatted authorization reply. In addition,when the rule(s) associated with the registered acquirer 104 issatisfied, the settlement engine 116 appends the transaction (based onthe authorization reply) to a settlement process, by the payment network106 (for the clearing management system 120 of the payment network 106),at 324, thereby implementing the registered settlement service.

Subsequently in the method 300, the payment network 106 transmits, at326, the authorization reply, with the appended flag indicator, to theacquirer 104. As such, the acquirer 104 is notified of the registeredsettlement of the transaction by the payment network 106 on behalf ofthe acquirer 104.

With continued reference to FIG. 3, at 328, the acquirer 104 identifiesthe flag indicator in the authorization reply, and then, at 330, omitsthe transaction from the acquirer's clearing/settlement reporting to thepayment network 106 (and, particularly, such reporting to the clearingmanagement system 120 of the payment network 106). Specifically, for aconventional transaction not subject to the registered settlementservices herein, upon receiving the authorization reply approving thetransaction, the acquirer 104 would subsequently include the transactionin clearing/settlement reporting to the payment network 106 (e.g., in acustomer initiated presentment initiation for the transaction, etc.).Herein, however, because the registered settlement service is availableto the acquirer 104 and the settlement engine 116 already included thetransaction in the settlement process (at 324) (e.g., as a paymentnetwork-on-behalf presentment initiation for the transaction, etc.), theacquirer 104 does not have to further report or otherwise inform thepayment network 106 of the transaction. Thus, in the method 300, inconnection with identifying the flag indicator, or later, the acquirer104 transmits the authorization reply to the merchant 102, at 332. Inresponse, because the authorization reply, in this example, includes anapproval of the transaction, the merchant 102 is permitted to completethe transaction with the consumer 112, at 334, thereby permitting theconsumer 112 to leave the merchant 102 with the product(s) purchased.

In the meantime in the method 300 (e.g., at about the same time orshortly thereafter, etc.), the payment network 106 directs clearing andsettlement of the transaction (on behalf of the acquirer 104) along withone or more other transactions (that are also subject to the settlementservices or that are subject to conventional settlement), at 336.Specifically, the payment network 106 (or the settlement engine 116)compiles a clearing presentment message (e.g., immediately or almostimmediately after successful authorization), which is provided to theissuer 108 as described above and which is the subject of a fundtransfer. As such, and in accordance with the message, funds aretransferred from the issuer 108 to the acquirer 104, whereby the fundsare to be debited from the consumer's account at the issuer 108 (i.e.,the payment account for funding of the transaction) and credited to themerchant's account at the acquirer 104.

In connection therewith, the payment network 106 (e.g., the clearingmanagement system 120 thereof, etc.) compiles a settlement summary (orclearing ledger), at 338, for the transaction and any other transactionssettled therewith. The payment network 106 then transmits the settlementsummary, in whole or in part, to the issuer 108, at 340, and to theacquirer 104, at 342. In one example, the settlement summary istransmitted to the issuer 108, for example, in the form of a presentmentmessage listing one or more fund transfers associated with thetransaction and additional transactions to/from the issuer 108, forexample. In turn, the issuer 108 confirms the settlement of thetransaction, at 344 (e.g., marks off the transaction, as settled, ininternal records, etc.), and the acquirer 104 confirms the settlement ofthe transaction, at 346. And, based on the clearing ledger, the paymentnetwork 106 (e.g., the settlement system 122 thereof, etc.) facilitatesthe transfer of funds between the account of the consumer 112 and theaccount of the merchant 102.

In view of the above, the systems and methods herein permit generallyexpedited settlement of certain types of transactions (e.g.,transactions consistent with specific rules, etc.) on behalf ofacquirers associated therewith, whereby the acquirers may be omittedfrom further handling, processing and/or reporting (to payment networks)of the transactions in order to settle and clear them (e.g., withoutother substantive change to the clearing and settlement processes,etc.). As such, when the systems and methods herein are implemented forthe certain transactions, such as small amount transactions and/orirreversible transactions (e.g., transactions to fast food merchants,for transit, or to vending merchants, etc.), for example, thetransaction burdens and associated costs to the involved acquirers maybe reduced, while at the same time more promptly injecting thetransactions for clearing and settlement (e.g., immediately or almostimmediately after successful authorization, etc.). As can beappreciated, this may allow for, and actually provide, an increasedefficiency in or of the payment network or system and, thereby, a moreprompt payment of the transactions. What's more, the settlement servicesassociated with the systems and methods herein may be implemented inconnection with conventional clearing management systems and settlementsystems of the involved payment networks, whereby the services may bereadily and efficiently provided to the acquirers in connection with themarket transactions.

Again, and as previously described, it should be appreciated that thefunctions described herein, in some embodiments, may be described incomputer executable instructions stored on a computer-readable media,and executable by one or more processors. The computer readable media isa non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. By way of example,and not limitation, such computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used tocarry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or datastructures and that can be accessed by a computer. Combinations of theabove should also be included within the scope of computer-readablemedia.

It should also be appreciated that one or more aspects of the presentdisclosure transform a general-purpose computing device into aspecial-purpose computing device when configured to perform thefunctions, methods, and/or processes described herein.

As will be appreciated, based on the foregoing specification, theabove-described embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented usingcomputer programming or engineering techniques, including computersoftware, firmware, hardware or any combination or subset thereof,wherein, the technical effect may be achieved by performing at least oneof the following operations: (a) transmitting a network request (e.g.,an authorization request), received from a first entity (e.g., anacquirer), to a second entity (e.g., an issuer); (b) intercepting, by atleast one computing device, a network reply (e.g., an authorizationreply) from the second entity, when the network reply is associated withthe first entity and the first entity is a registered entity, thenetwork reply including at least one parameter; (c) appending, by the atleast one computing device, an indicator (e.g., a flag indicator) to thenetwork reply when a rule associated with the first entity is satisfiedby the at least one parameter of the network reply; (d) appending, bythe at least one computing device, a transaction associated with thenetwork reply to a clearing and/or settlement process when the rule issatisfied by the at least one parameter of the network reply; and (e)transmitting the network reply, with the appended indicator, to thefirst entity, whereby, upon identifying the indicator, the first entityis permitted to omit the transaction from further handling and/orreporting, to a network associated with the at least one computingdevice, related to clearing and/or settlement of the transaction.

As will also be appreciated, based on the foregoing specification, theabove technical improvement in the payment system as described above isa computer-based solution to a technical deficiency or problem that isitself rooted in computer technology (i.e., the problem itself derivesfrom the use of computer technology). More specifically, the issues andinefficiencies created by the conventional authorization, clearing,and/or settlement systems are the result of implementation and use ofcomputer systems to effect authorization, clearing, and/or settlement ofpayment card transactions. The systems and methods may herein improveupon the conventional computer-related authorization, clearing, and/orsettlement systems by identifying certain transactions based on certaincriteria or tags affiliated or affixed to those transactions (or themessages related thereto), removing those transactions from the typicalclearing and settlement flow or cycle, and then directing thosetransactions into a different (or more timely) clearing and settlementflow or cycle. Thus, the inefficiencies or problems of the conventionalauthorization, clearing, and/or settlement systems as described hereinare solved (i.e., the desired outcome of achieving increasedefficiencies over the conventional authorization, clearing, and/orsettlement systems are achieved) by the methods described andparticularly claimed herein.

Exemplary embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will bethorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled inthe art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples ofspecific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thoroughunderstanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will beapparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not beemployed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many differentforms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of thedisclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes,well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are notdescribed in detail.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularexemplary embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As usedherein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and“having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, butdo not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described hereinare not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance inthe particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specificallyidentified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood thatadditional or alternative steps may be employed.

When a feature is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connectedto,” “coupled to,” “associated with,” “included with,” or “incommunication with” another feature, it may be directly on, engaged,connected, coupled, associated, included, or in communication to or withthe other feature, or intervening features may be present. As usedherein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one ormore of the associated listed items.

In addition, as used herein, the term product may include a good and/ora service.

Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein todescribe various features, these features should not be limited by theseterms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one feature fromanother. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms whenused herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated bythe context. Thus, a first feature discussed herein could be termed asecond feature without departing from the teachings of the exampleembodiments.

None of the elements recited in the claims are intended to be ameans-plus-function element within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 112(f)unless an element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for,” orin the case of a method claim using the phrases “operation for” or “stepfor.”

The foregoing description of exemplary embodiments has been provided forpurposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or featuresof a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particularembodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be usedin a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described.The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to beregarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modificationsare intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for use in distributing processing oftransactions to a payment network, the method comprising: transmitting,by at least one computing device of a payment network, a networkrequest, received from at least one computing device of an acquirer, toat least one computing device of an issuer; intercepting, by the atleast one computing device of the payment network, a network reply fromthe at least one computing device of the issuer in response to thenetwork reply being associated with the acquirer and the acquirer beingregistered with the payment network for irrevocable transactionsettlement services, the network reply responsive to the network requestand including at least one parameter, the at least one parameterincluding at least one of a transaction amount and/or a merchantcategory code (MCC); appending, by the at least one computing device ofthe payment network, an indicator to the network reply in response to arule associated with the acquirer being satisfied by the at least oneparameter of the network reply; appending, by the at least one computingdevice of the payment network, a transaction associated with the networkreply to a clearing and/or settlement process in response to the ruleassociated with the acquirer being satisfied by the at least oneparameter of the network reply; and transmitting the network reply, withthe appended indicator, to the at least one computing device of theacquirer, whereby, upon identifying the indicator, the acquirer ispermitted to omit the transaction from further reporting to the paymentnetwork in connection with clearing and/or settlement of thetransaction.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the issuer is an issuerof a payment account associated with a consumer for funding of thetransaction.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least oneparameter of the network reply includes the transaction amount; andwherein the rule associated with the acquirer includes a thresholdamount, and wherein the rule is satisfied when the transaction amount isless than the threshold amount.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the atleast one parameter includes the MCC; and wherein the rule includes alisting of multiple MCCs, and wherein the rule is satisfied when the MCCof the network reply is included in the listing of multiple MCCsassociated with the rule.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the networkreply includes an authorization reply; and wherein appending theindicator to the network request includes appending a flag indicator tothe authorization reply.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprisingclearing and/or settling the transaction without receiving reporting,prior to the clearing and/or settling the transaction, directed theretofrom the acquirer.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving, by the at least one computing device of the acquirer, fromthe at least one computing device of the payment network, the networkreply with the appended indicator; and upon identifying the indicator,omitting, by the acquirer, the transaction from further reporting to thepayment network in connection with clearing and/or settlement of thetransaction.
 8. A system for use in distributing processing oftransactions to a payment network, the system comprising: a paymentnetwork including a settlement engine computing device, wherein thesettlement engine computing device is configured to: intercept anauthorization reply from an issuer, when the authorization reply isdirected to a registered acquirer, the authorization reply associatedwith a transaction and including at least one parameter of thetransaction; retrieve, from a data structure associated with thesettlement engine computing device, at least one rule associated withthe registered acquirer; append a flag indicator to the authorizationreply when the at least one parameter of the authorization replysatisfies the at least one rule, whereby the authorization reply, withthe appended flag indicator, is permitted to be transmitted to theregistered acquirer, and upon identifying the flag indicator, theregistered acquirer is permitted to omit the transaction from furtherreporting to the payment network for clearing and settlement of thetransaction; and append the transaction to a settlement processassociated with the payment network, independent of any reporting fromthe registered acquirer, when the at least one parameter of theauthorization reply satisfies the at least one rule.
 9. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the settlement engine computing device is furtherconfigured to determine if the at least one rule is satisfied by the atleast one parameter of the authorization reply.
 10. The system of claim9, wherein the at least one rule includes at least one merchant categorycode (MCC); and wherein the at least one parameter of the authorizationreply includes an MCC for a merchant involved in the transaction; andwherein the settlement engine computing device is configured to:determine if the MCC of the authorization reply matches the at least oneMCC of the at least one rule; and append the flag indicator to theauthorization reply when the MCC of the authorization reply matches theat least one MCC of the at least one rule.
 11. The system of claim 9,wherein the at least one rule includes at least one merchant ID; andwherein the at least one parameter of the authorization reply includes amerchant ID for a merchant involved in the transaction; and wherein thesettlement engine computing device is configured to: determine if themerchant ID of the authorization reply matches the at least one merchantID of the at least one rule; and append the flag indicator to theauthorization reply when the merchant ID of the authorization replymatches the at least one merchant ID of the at least one rule.
 12. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the at least one rule is based on at leastone of a transaction amount, a merchant category code (MCC), and amerchant ID.
 13. The system of claim 8, wherein the settlement enginecomputing device is further configured to receive an authorizationrequest for the transaction from the registered acquirer and transmitthe authorization request to the issuer, prior to intercepting theauthorization reply, and to transmit the authorization reply, with theappended flag indicator, to the registered acquirer.
 14. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the settlement engine computing device is furtherconfigured to clear and/or settle the transaction when the transactionis appended to a settlement process associated with the payment network.15. The system of claim 14, wherein the settlement engine computingdevice is further configured to append the transaction to the settlementprocess associated with the payment network after transmitting theauthorization reply for the transaction, with the appended flagindicator, to the registered acquirer.
 16. The system of claim 13,wherein the settlement engine computing device is further configured totransmit a settlement report to at least one of the issuer and theregistered acquirer in connection with the payment network clearing andsettling the transaction.
 17. The system of claim 8, wherein thesettlement engine computing device is configured, in connection withappending the flag indicator to the authorization reply, to append theflag indicator to a data element of the authorization reply.
 18. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising executableinstructions for processing network transactions between differententities, which when executed by at least one processor of a paymentnetwork, cause the at least one processor to: intercept a network reply,relating to a network request directed from a first entity to a secondentity, when the network reply is associated with the first entity andthe first entity is a registered entity, the network reply responsive tothe network request and including at least one parameter; retrieve, froma data structure associated with the at least one processor, at leastone rule associated with the first entity; append an indicator to thenetwork reply when the at least one rule is satisfied by the at leastone parameter of the network reply; append a transaction associated withthe network reply to a clearing and/or settlement process, independentof any reporting from the first entity, when the rule associated withthe first entity is satisfied by the at least one parameter of thenetwork reply; and transmit the network reply, with the appendedindicator, to the first entity, whereby, upon identifying the indicator,the first entity is permitted to omit the transaction from furtherreporting to a network associated with the at least one computing devicein connection with clearing and/or settlement of the transaction. 19.The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 18, whereinthe executable instructions, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, further cause the at least one processor to register thefirst entity to the data structure, and generate and store the at leastone rule in the data structure in association with the first entity. 20.The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 18, whereinthe at least one rule is based on at least one of a transaction amount,a merchant category code (MCC), and a merchant ID.